An awful thing to do
by tulipsaside
Summary: Hermione goes to great lengths to extract revenge from Severus but is it worth it?
1. chapter 1

All things Harry Potter belong to J.K Rowling.

Chapter 1: I've seen your face before my friend:

His back stiffens as he reaches into his robes acutely aware that his wand is no longer resting in the folds of the material but piercing him in the neck as the assailants own wand firmly presses into his lower back.

A rough whisper, meet his ears as his entire body molds rudely into a perfect vertical line creaking his spine. Though his eyes shift in the shadows of the aggressors body is in full view. The woman is average in height though well below his own tall outline, she is curvaceous without being portly. In the dark his eyes adjust to take in her features as she steps closer to his body.

"Severus," she purrs with the notes of a sailors siren and her face juts out of the shadows to expose a mask he knows well; the silver of its metal glint in extinguishing light, and the hood bandage tightly around its grotesque silhouette confirms that this attack has come from a comrade; a Death Eater like himself.

" How fortunate it is that I find you, Severus, though perhaps in the future you'd be a bit more careful when walking in dark alleyways." Even through the stone mask he can feel the smile tugging at her lips.

" I'll take it into consideration, sister." His voice sears through the night. "Though what, pray tell, could you possible need with me?"

" The sweet satisfaction of revenge, of course." Her voice stings as if it were truly that obvious.

He would of cocked an eyebrow at this had he regained any movement n his body,

"Revenge? Sister, what revenge could you have against a fellow Death Eater?"

She stops pacing to look at him, " Yes, well that seems be the question of the hour, Severus. Though before we get to the heart of it, let me ask you, has it been worth it?"

" I'm afraid you'll have to be a bit less vague." He sneered.

She lets out a small laugh, " Everything, Severus," She moves closer and closer to his body her wand tracing up and over his collar exposing his throat, her fingers splaying over the fine skin.

"Everything," She looks up into his eyes the cold calculating stare of the metal mask gleaming in the dim light above him. "right down to the betrayal and hurt that flashed in Albus Dumbeldore's eyes as you so effortlessly slaughtered him with this very wand?" His wand sliding an errant hair from his eyes as she twists it across his face. His eyes flashing giving away his terror.

" That, not only did you let _him_ down you let the whole Wizarding world down as well?"She nuzzles his neck almost affectionately before her voice goes as cold as her mask.

"And for what? Fame, glory, love or was it that you just wanted to save your own pathetic Slytherin skin?" Her face was so close that when that last word broke from her lips he could feel the dampness of her mouth.

His voice had gone sour in his throat, letting the air go stale as he spoke, " Who are you?"

She pulls away from him, almost violently, " Why Professor I'm shocked that I could be so easily forgotten."

Her hand raised slowly to her hood letting it down over her shoulders as a wave of auburn hair flowed from its opening. Her fingers grazed the side of the mask letting it fall around her neck.

" Miss. Granger?" He gasped

"Yes, Professor, the little know-it-all Mudblood. Though you seemed so surprised, didn't you think I'd make it, hmm?" She laughs.

"You were thought to be dead. I saw it myself."

She laughs again, " Yes, well, that was an interesting night wasn't it. Though by then I'm sure you were too busy being a traitor to notice how the know-it-all managed to take down a big scary Death Eater while she laid hemorrhaging on the floor."

She pushed the end of her wand sharply into his throat making it almost impossible to breath.

" In hindsight, though, I would have gladly traded Malfoy's death with yours."

" Then how lucky for you that you seem to get both deaths in the end," He spat, sucking in air with effort. "and here I thought you were distressed over your dear Saint Potter?"

She waved her wand and a searing pain went through his gut.

" This isn't about Harry, Severus. This is about extracting vengeance, for having to watch one of my mentors turn traitor."

"Then you truly are a silly little girl." He ground out the words as a fire rose through his belly.

" Professor," she hummed in disapproval almost teasingly, " it so appalling to see you throwing out idle insults. What's next house points?"

" You speak of things that you know nothing about." His face glowed pale even in the dark, blood was running down his thighs now dripping onto the concrete below.

" I know of many things, Severus." She almost sounded remorseful as she flicked her wand again closing the cut in his belly.

"I know how you begged the Headmaster to save you when you fled from the Dark Lord thirty years ago, telling him how you couldn't stomach the torturing anymore that you'd been fooled by his petty lies, begging him to let you purge your sins before he sent you to Azakaban. I know how he forgave you before offering you a home within the castle even a job. How he even felt he owed you for failing you while in school." She flicked her wand for a third time sending a curse in between his shoulder blades ripping the skin apart before she stepped in closer to him.

" But that wasn't enough was it, Professor? The headmasters trust wasn't even remotely enough for you, because you went back to Voldermort, didn't you?" She dragged the wand down his chest splitting the skin underneath his robes as she went. He let out a howling gasp.

"Tell me, Professor, did Voldermort welcome you back with open arms?"

Silence reigned for moments before he could will himself to speak He closed his eyes as the pain washed over him. " No."

She smiled, " No, no he didn't not at all. You thought that you'd use Albus' trust against him, for it would serve so many purposes, you'd have a home a job, and a offering to Voldermort that would let you move up in his ranks. All the while, reporting back to the Headmaster with little petty crumbs of information. I have to admit it was a convincing lie. You had all of us fooled even in my time at Hogwarts it was easy to believe you were a spy, playing both sides, being the shadowed martyr."  
Her voice turned to a higher octave "Oh poor, Severus, how hard he works for the cause, no credit at all" She leaned against him, pushing his aching flesh into the bricks of the wall. Laughing as she spoke

" But even with such an offering to Voldermort, he had still punished you, hadn't he?" She leaned in close to his ear whispering like a lover.

" I ask you again, Professor was it worth it?" She backed away to look into his eyes.

He gave no answer, his pain and guilt stopping the words in his throat.

She turned her face up to his cheek starring him in the eye.

" I heard she crawled to you on her knees, your mother, screaming at you that she forgave you. Even as death raped her very skin, she cried, not from pain but _for_ you."

" Enough," He hissed " enough." His blood was boiling down his back making it difficult to breath, his head spinning with unwanted images.

" Why, Professor, can you not stomach your own mistakes your own guilt?" she smiled, closing the wounds on his back easing the physical pain but opening wounds no magic could heal.

" Your own mother died, clutching your robes sobbing that she had failed you. But, still you stayed, to play out your little fantasy. You accepted that with every great triumph came sacrifice, something I believe your father use to beat into you, quite literally." She flicked her wand and a seam opened somewhere under his rib before her body bind curse failed and he fell to his knees. She strolled over to the heap his form had made before grabbing his hair in her palm pulling up on it hard so his face looked deep into her flaring brown eyes.

" But your plan failed didn't it, Professor? Through a little boy named Harry Potter, twenty fateful years ago. He turned your plan into a disaster didn't he? No longer the great Death Eater spy in Hogwarts no one to stroke your ego, you were a lowly Potions Professor. No fame, nor glory, and certainly no love. " She let his head fall to the ground.

" I have to admit it took me longer than I expected to piece together all the little details of your story, Severus." She looked at him with pensiveness.

" How…" blood was leaching from his moth, " Miss. Granger, did you find out?"

At this he could see her smile widen, " Why, Professor, you should know as well as I do, that as a Hogwarts Professor and Head of House, you have access to all retired Head of Houses records. Though how very fortunate of me to find your pensive while I shifted through my new quarters."

He starred up at her in puzzlement. Almost opening his mouth to speak before she tapped her wand to her temple allowing her face and body turn into a tall woman with overly large blue eyes and long straight black hair. Even as she spoke her voice held a lower tone.

" I do believe we've met before, Severus. Though allow me to properly introduce myself. Mrs. Andreas Snape." She gave a small bow before her voice erupted with laughter.

" Did I make a convincing Pureblooded wife, Husband?" Her eyes burned behind the icy blue stare she shot to him.

His insides churned as he starred up at her. " Andreas," he whispered meekly.

" I know what your thinking dear husband, the ultimate betrayal, right?" She grinned.

He tried to push himself away from her looming figure. Backing his throbbing body into the wall behind him.

" The dark foreboding ex-Potions Professor though current Headmaster, since you murdered the last one, falls head over heels in love with the gracefully and elegant Potions Professor, who not only worships you, but is highly intelligent and a Death Eater as well. Then after almost a year of courting he allows himself to breath in his last reward by asking for her hand in marriage. For after such victories what else was there to do, who else could stroke your ego but the ever doting wife."

She strokes his hair playfully, reminding him of the comfort he had grown so accustomed too.

:) So what do you think? Want to know what happens?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: What I am to you is not what you are to me.

Severus withdrew into the brick wall, willing it to swallow him. His mind was reeling and the pain that dwelled in his bones was nothing in way of the suffering that streamed through his mind. Andreas, no Granger was talking again, how he had come to know that face so well. A face of someone who didn't even exists. He valued her above all others, the way she held his gaze, never backing down from his temper. Though, looking back on it now it made perfect sense. Andreas, was effectively Miss. Granger, the same stubborn manner, raging courage, and fiery passion that kept him entertained; that kept him admiring. He had to concede it was, indeed, the ultimate betrayal, with nothing left to take from him but his dignity which she was currently, and successfully bleeding from him right now. Yes, death would be most welcomed after tonight. He was tired, had been very tired for so long now. Her voice waft back onto him.

Her hands were shaking, as she waved her wand to heal the remainder of his wounds, it would do no good for him to bleed to death before she finished what she had been longing for, for years now. What pity did he deserve? Death would not come to this man by her hands. That was one thing she was so very certain of, it was not for her to decide his fate, only to let him know she knew what he really truly was.

" I have tried, Professor, even before I so cleverly disguised myself in so many roles. I had endeavored to find some reason, any explanation at all for what you've done. I begged for the smallest hope that underneath all of the lies, you were acting with some sense of duty to those who had believe in you. That there were answers to the actions you committed. That you Severus Snape, could not in good consciences actively murder the Headmaster, willingly." tears had welled up in her eyes, causing fierce blue eyes to spark. She raised her wand, swishing it to draw him up off the bricks and stand stiff against the wall.

" Look at me, Professor, and give me any answer." She pleaded.

His eyes clouded before forcing himself to look at her; the woman who he had shared more than just a home with for the last year.

" There is nothing I can say to you that will bring him back." His sigh held more defeat then all the injuries his body.

She walked quickly to him, forcibly pushing a well-known hand into his throat.

" I want an answer, a reason, you threw away the trust of so many in return for the misery of the world. What did you gain? Was power that important to you? Did you crave the title of Headmaster so much you'd kill for it? Did you think it would make you significant, make you famous?" She squeezed harder. " Because, you will never be able to fill that chair you sit in as the Headmaster."

He did not try to struggle against her, there was no point, he was resigned to his fate as it were. " I owe you no explanation."

Her face hardened with rage, a flick of her wand and he felt his jaw open parting his lips. Her hand lifted to his mouth pouring a liquid down his throat. He swallowed little before gathering it on his tongue and spitting it back into her dangerous glare. The damage was done however, he could already feel his resolve slipping away. She stepped away from him wiping her cheek with the edge of her robe.

" Why did you kill Albus Dumbledore?" She hissed.

He clamped his mouth tight shut forcing the words back down his throat. This was Vernessiam from his own storage and even with the small amount he had imbibed he could feel the words on his tongue.

"He… told me to" The words rushed from his mouth along with all his strength.

Whatever she had been expecting to hear, it was clear by the falter in her step that, those words he uttered where not it.

"What?" she breathed.

Against, his will the tale unfolded. "It was planned that should Harry fail and Albus was targeted by Voldermort than I was to issue the Killing Curse to the Headmaster as a last attempt to thwart the Dark Lord and insure the remaining students and staff were safe."

Her voice cracked as she spoke. "How would that, why- why would that even be reasonable, Dumbledore could have fought back, taken Voldermort, he could have saved us."

"Dumbledore knew that only Potter could kill the Dark Lord, and by then the Headmaster was too injured to fight." His voice held such despair he could hardly stop the trembling in his legs.

She looked to him, searching his face for something, anything that would make it not true. "All this time, all these years I thought there was something… I thought you were…" she couldn't continue, her voice frail and wounded she plunged to the ground.

Her curse broke and his legs fell an inch to the ground yet he stayed frozen to the wall behind him panic and misery holding him tighter than any spell.

" I've… I'm.." she looked up to him. " I'm so sorry."

Had he seen her without the charm, without the face of his wife starring at him he would have managed something scathing to say, something hurtful. But this woman before him was not Hermione Granger, Gryffindor know-it-all, another casualty in a war no one man nor child should have had to fight. This woman, looked, smelled, and felt like Andreas Snape, his wife and companion for over a year, current Potions Master and Slytherin Head of House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He felt cheated, as if the wind had been knocked out of him and he'd never get a deep breath again.

" I assume, Miss. Granger you have the Dark Mark?" he managed to choke out.

She raised her head to him a blank mask of terror, "Yes."

" And is it also safe to assume that you understand the implications of having it?" His usual sneers not quite hitting there marks in his voice.

" Professor, I assure you that you have nothing to worry about your secret is safe with me. I've made quite a career out of disappearing."

Panic coursed through his veins, " Miss. Granger you miss my point entirely. This is not something you can just disappear from. You have made you proverbial bed and now indeed have to lay in it. I will expect you in class on Monday."

She might have laughed if her mind wasn't so weak. " Yes, Headmaster."

A/N: So yep here's chapter 2, and I didn't actually think it go on this long, but Severus and Hermione are terribly stubborn. Who knows what they'll do next.

Thank you to the reviews I've gotten already and don't hesitate to review again… and again… and again J


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